By Kathleen T. Brady, Editor
Made up of sand, dirt and talcum powder-fine dust, desert air is not only hard to endure, it can disable helicopters and other large equipment used by the military during combat operations.
But innovative air filters manufactured by Aerospace Filtration Systems, Inc., based in St. Charles, have enabled such military equipment to function 10 times longer than it could without the AFS air filters.
AFS celebrated a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday of its new 22,000-square-foot facility, which is attached to the 40,000-square-foot headquarters of its parent company, Westar Aerospace and Defense Group, in the Missouri Research Park in Weldon Spring. U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Missouri, chair of the House Armed Services Commission, was the guest of honor at the ceremony.
Construction on the new AFS facility, which includes about 6,000 square feet of assembly space, began in August 2004. The company’s 33 employees, mostly scientists and engineers, moved into the building in January 2005.
Pictures of dust-covered helicopters and machines dot the walls of the AFS building to illustrate just how damaging desert conditions can be to helicopters. The AFS air filters extend the life of these helicopter engines from 100 to 200 hours of flight time to 1,715 hours of flight time. Technically proven in combat, the lightweight filtration systems protect engines from 99 percent of dirt and sand. Filters are also made for the highly sensitive and expensive auxiliary power units inside the helicopters.
AFS, founded in 1998, operated as a division of Westar up until 2004, when it became a separate subsidiary, said Westar CEO Robert Topping. Mike Scimone, president of AFS, used to work as an engineer in the military and knew about some of the problems with its aircraft. Scimone asked Topping to invest in some research and development for these special air filters in 1997, and three years later, AFS went to market with its first product. To date, AFS has produced 1,100 systems and 9,000 air filters for commercial and military customers.
The company’s success can be seen through its yearly revenue, which soared from $5.7 million in 2003 to $24 million in 2004. Scimone said he expects revenues will be around $33 million for 2005. “Our product is really working,” he said.
Scimone said that as military spending has been cut back in recent years, he hopes the commercial market for the filters will pick up.
AFS suppliers include locally based businesses such as Austin Macine in O’Fallon and Daca Machine and Tool in Augusta.
Westar is a defense information technology services company that provides engineering, programming and logistics technology consulting to clients ranging from the U.S. Department of Defense to friendly foreign governments. Westar has been located in the Missouri Research Park since 1999. Founded in Albuquerque, N.M., in 1986, Westar moved its headquarters to the Research Park in 2004.
Westar’s work force here in the county grew from 640 employees in 2000 to 1,070 by 2004. Its yearly revenue increased from $77 million in 2003 to $155 million in 2004.
